Laila and I really appreciated this perspective on Rockwell, and it added considerably to what we had learned through visiting the Rockwell museum in Massachusetts (which is really fantastic, should you be in that area). But we also gained a different and intriguing gustatory perspective into Roswell’s life. You see, contained in his correspondence are instructions for cooking his (selfish fellow!) “favorite nut bread” recipe. And what did Rockwell’s favorite nut bread recipe contain?

Lots of sweet stuff, I assure you: a cup of raisins, one entire (peel to juice, no seeds) orange, a bunch of flour and some vanilla, in addition to the usual cake-bread culprits of flour, salt and leavening agents.

We’ve cooked it twice, although our first baking was most successful. The temperature-time seems high (90 minutes in the oven?) but as the dough is fairly wet (with the orange juice, water and egg), perhaps some of you will need this extra time.